Oil burners



p 4, 1956 N. G. BERGHOFF 2,761,735

OIL BURNERS Filed Jan. 16, 1952 29 2e 43 42 R30 34 I5 I INVENTOR.

NORBERT 6. BERGHOFF ATTORNEY nited States Patent F 011. BURNERS Norbert G. Berghoif, Fort Wayne,

Ind., assignor to Wayne Home Equipment This invention relates generally to oil burners and more particularly to apparatus adapted to prevent leakage of oil from an atomizing nozzle and the oil tube connected thereto.

Conventional oil burners comprise in general the combination of a fanunit, a fuel pump assembly, a fuel atomizing gun connected to the pump and an air tube connected to the fan unit and cooperating with the gun to mix air and atomized oil to produce eificient fuel combustion. Since a domestic oil burning unit is mounted on a furnace in such a manner that the gun is within the furnace and the pump is without the furnace the pipe connection between the gun and the pump is usually of appreciable length whereby it normally contains a substantial quantity of oil, especially during the period that the burner is operating. After an operating period of the burner, there is nothing to prevent drainage of oil from this pipe connection. This results in the leakage of oil from the gun in quantities of theorder of an ounce or two. This leakage is enhanced by the fact that air may be trapped in the nozzle or in the pipe connection. When the burner is operating the trapped air is under pressure and therefore forces oil out of the nozzle after the burner has stopped operating.

In conversion installations where the burner is mounted on a coal burning furnace, this leakage occurs inside of the furnace wherefore any oil which may have collected within the furnace may be burned when the burner operates, and no dangerous or objectionable condition results. On the contrary, where the oil burner is mounted on a furnace originally designed for oil combustion it is found that leakage occurs exteriorly of the furnace whereby that quantity of oil contained within the pipe connection drains to the floor outside of the furnace after each heating cycle of the burner, thereby creating a dangerous and otherwise objectionable condition.

Accordingly, the principal object of this invention is to provide a novel nozzle connection for oil burners which is adapted to prevent leakage of oil therefrom.

Another object of this invention is to provide in an oil burner, apparatus adapted to inhibit entrapment of air therein thereby to prevent leakage of oil.

In accordance with this invention there is provided a nozzle connection for oil burners comprising an oil barrier therein adapted to separate the nozzle from the oil tube, the barrier being provided with a by-pass port in the upper portion thereof for bleeding entrapped air from the oil tube and permitting flow of oil from the tube into the nozzle.

For a better understanding of the invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and its scope willv be pointed out in the appended claims.

Fig. 1 of the drawings is a fragmentary view partially in section showing an oil burner assembly;

Fig. 2 of the drawings is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the nozzle and the adaptor illustrated in Fig. 1;

Patented Sept. 4, 1956 2 F Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Referring to the drawings: Fig. 1 illustrates a fan housing 10 of an oil burner within which is mounted a conventional fan for supplying air to the nozzle. This portion of the burner is conventional and therefore not shown in detail. The oil pump may also be mounted on this housing together with a motor for driving the pump, neither of which elements has been illustrated as they are also conventional. An air tube 12 may be bolted or otherwise fixed to housing 10, which air tube includes a plurality of spirally to impart a whirling motion the fire pot of a furnace. An oil tube 15 projects outwardly of housing 10 and extends into the air tube 12 as illustrated in the drawings. An air diffusing cup 16 may be slidably mounted at its inner end on oil tube 15 as at 17, the outer end of the cup 16 being supported formed vanes 13 adapted to air as it emerges into within and by the spiral vanes 13. Diffusing cup 16' is adjustably movable on oil tube 15 and a clamp 18 may be fixed to tube 15 for supporting an adjustment screw 20 which may be threaded to the diffusing cup 16 as at 22.

An adaptor 24 may be mounted on the outer end of the tube 15 by means of threads provided on the end of tube 15 and mating threads provided on the interior of the adaptor 24 as illustrated in Fig. 2. A nozzle 26 may be threadedly mounted within the outer end of adaptor 24 as also illustrated in Fig. 2. Adaptor 24 is provided with a barrier 28 the upper portion of which includes a port 29 through which air and oil may flow from tube 15 into the chamber 31 within the outer end of adaptor 24.

Nozzle 26 includes a nozzle body 32 having an aper-' ture 33 at its outer end through which atomized oil emerges. Threaded to the interior of nozzle body 32 is a so-called rotor 34 having a reduced end portion 35 which forms an annular chamber 36 within the nozzle body 32. This chamber may be connected to the aperture 33 by means of non-radial grooves 37 cut in the end of the rotor whereby oil may flow spirally through the grooves and be atomized as it emerges from vent 33. Chamber 36 is connected by means of a pair of ports 38 to a chamber 39 within the rotor 34. A cylindrical strainer assembly 40 may be threaded within the inner end of nozzle body 32 and comprises a cylinder member 41 over the exterior of which is a screen 42. Flow of oil to the interior of cylindrical member 41 is provided by means of a port 43. Thus oil may flow from tube 15 through the port 29 into the chamber 31 where it has access to the nozzle 26.

For igniting oil and air at the end of the air tube 12 there is provided a pair of spaced electrical conductors 45 which may be electrically connected to the automatic control apparatus of the oil burner.

In operation, it may be assumed that, when the oil burner is actuated for its first cycle after it is installed, oil is pumped into the tube 15 driving air out of tube 15 through the port 29 into chamber 31 and out through port 43, ports 38 and aperture 33. Since the port 29 is located at the highest point of the barrier and the chamber 31 no air can remain in tube 15. As the pump continues to operate, oil is forced through the adaptor 24 and the nozzle as will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art.

When the operating cycle of the burner is terminated by the automatic control equipment, oil will continue to flow out of nozzle until such time as the oil pressure equals atmospheric pressure. At this time it is possible that there may be a minute quantity of air trapped within chamber 31 or within chamber 36 and, since flllS air was under pressure during the burning cycle of the burner, it may cause a minute quantity of oil to drip from aperture 33. This quantity is so minute, however, that it would in all probability evaporate before it could flow out of the air tube 12. This small amount of drippage would not occur, however, after the burner had completed a number of operating cycles as the oil flowing through the adaptor and nozzle would absorb or otherwise exhaust any air which might be trapped within the adaptor or the nozzle. Accordingly, from this time on there would be no drippage from the nozzle because it is not possible for air to work its way back into the chamber 39 or the chamber 31 to permit oil to flow outwardly from the nozzle. In any event, if this could ocour, only that quantity of oil contained within chamber 31 and. the nozzle itself could fiow out through'aperture 33. This is due to the fact that the port 39 is at the uppermost margin of oil tube and chamber 31. Port 29 is also drilled at an angle whereby its right hand end is. higher than its left hand end. Consequently oil would have to flow upwardly through port 29 in order to emerge in. the chamber 31. This is of course impossible and therefore only very limited drippage could ever possibly occur.

While there has been described what is at present considered the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1'. In an oil burner, thev combination of an oil supply tube; a cylindrical member having a chamber at one end for receiving the end of said oil supply tube and a chamber at the other end for receiving a nozzle, and air bleeding means comprising a relatively thick wall between said chambers with a passage in the upper portion of said barrier and inclined upwardly from said supply tube chamber to said nozzle chamber; and a nozzle mounted in said nozzle chamber.

2. In an oil burner, an adaptor comprising a cylindrical member having a chamber at one end for receiving the end of an oil supply tube and a chamber at the other end for receiving a nozzle, and air bleeding means comprising a relatively thick Wall between said chambers with a passage in the upper portion of said barrier and inclined upwardly from said supply tube chamber to said nozzle chamber.

3. In an oil burner, the combination of an oil supply tube, an adaptor having a chamber at one end for receiving the end of said oil supply tube and a chamber at the other end for receiving a nozzle, and air-bleeding means comprising a barrier of relatively thick wall section between said chambers, said barrier having in the upper portion thereof a passage which inclines upwardly from said supply tube chamber to said nozzle chamber, and a nozzle mounted in said nozzle chamber.

4. In an oil burner, an adaptor comprising a chamber at one end for receiving the end of an oil supply tube and a chamber at the other end of receiving a nozzle, and air-bleeding means comprising a barrier of relatively thin wall section between said chambers, said barriers having in the upper portion thereof a passage which inclines upwardly from the oil supply tube chamber to the nozzle chamber.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 669,193 Alexander Mar. 5, 1901 699,281 Baylis May 6, 1902 2,009,932 Klotzman July 30, 1935 2,120,611 Huss June 14, 1938 2,254,123 Soaper Aug. 26, 1941 2,527,093 Du Fay Oct. 24, 1950 2,539,315 Murphy Jan. 28, 1951 

